Big Data Analytics to Become the Pet Child of Businesses Worldwide, Reveals Gartner

Bengaluru: Gartner, Inc., a global leader in IT research and survey space, conducted a survey on the areas in which the businesses are planning to invest over the next two years. The survey was conducted in June 2015 and the participants to the survey included 437 Gartner Research Circle Members from various organizations across different industries; both Gartner clients and non-clients. According to the survey, over 75 percent of the participants are investing or planning to invest in big data analytics in the next two years, comprising a three percent increase when compared to last year.

“This year begins the shift of big data away from a topic unto itself, and toward standard practices,” says Nick Heudecker, Research Director, Gartner. “The topics that formerly defined big data, such as massive data volumes, disparate data sources and new technologies are becoming familiar as big data solutions become the mainstream. For example, among companies that have invested in big data technology, 70 percent are analyzing or planning to analyze location data, and 64 percent are analyzing or planning to analyze free-form text”.

Lisa Kart, Research Director, Gartner, says, “As big data becomes the new normal, information and analytics leaders are shifting focus from hype to finding value. While the perennial challenge of understanding value remains, the practical challenges of skills, governance, funding and return on investment (ROI) come to the fore”.

Another major finding that the survey highlighted was the role within the businesses that initiates investing in big data projects. Last year, 37 percent of the overall big data projects were initiated by the CIO and 25 percent projects were initiated by the business unit heads. This year, the statistics nearly tied-up with each other with 32 percent projects initiated by CIOs and 31 percent by business heads.

Usually, the businesses have multiple goals for big data initiatives like enhancing customer experience, reorganizing the existing processes achieving high sales at reduced costs. The same trend has been continued even this year. The companies are keeping enhancing customer experience as the primary role of big data projects (64 percent) and process reorganizing & more sales are now tied at 47 percent. Due to the increased cyber attacks, enhanced security capabilities saw an increase of eight percent compared to last year.